Pests That Can Damage Your Somerset KY Lawn
06/25/2024 – by pest expert Matthew Hess
Lawn maintenance is expensive and time-consuming but refreshingly rewarding when you see its beauty. However, little thought is often given to pests that can damage your Somerset KY lawn until those damages are visible. We often concentrate on keeping our homes and businesses pest-free but fail to be concerned about pests in our lawns.
If proper maintenance, prevention, and control of lawn pests is not performed, your lush, green lawn can become a brown, spotty eye sore. Whether it’s voles making trails through the grass, ants creating unsightly ant hills, moles making tunnels just under the surface, or grubs silently feeding on the root system of your lawn, preventative maintenance and proper control measures can keep your lawn looking beautiful.
Let’s explore four crucial pests that can damage your Somerset KY lawn.
Moles in Your Somerset KY Lawn
Moles are fascinating creatures that have adapted to a subterranean lifestyle. They spend much of their lives underground, tirelessly excavating intricate tunnel systems as they hunt for food and navigate through the earth, digging as much as 15 feet per hour. While their digging habits are a marvel of creation and adaptation, they can also prove to be a nuisance, particularly for homeowners, gardeners, and groundskeepers. The disruption caused by moles can be a source of frustration for those responsible for maintaining manicured lawns, pristine gardens, and well-groomed golf courses in Somerset KY and surrounding areas.
A single mole’s territory can cover as much as nearly 3 acres of ground. Insectivores by nature, they prefer worms, grubs, and insects and eat up to 70-100% of their body weight each day. Throughout the daytime and nighttime, moles will be active year-round (Even in winter) but may exhibit less presence when extremely hot or cold. Their mating begins in late winter and the gestation period will take around 42 days. Females then give birth to between 2-5 young that will become independent of their mother within about a month.
Areas where loosely packed dirt exists, like forests and fields, is a mole’s prime habitat. When found in lawn or turf sites, they can often be traced back to their primary habitat by following their runs. If left untreated, moles can do extensive and costly damage to lawns, turf, pasture fields, flower gardens and more.
Moles damage lawns by foraging below the surface for food, causing runs of pushed-up soil about 3 inches wide. Depending on the time of year and the type of soil, mole runs may be higher or lower from the surface of the ground. Additionally, moles create molehills of about 6-24 inches in diameter where they enter or exit the ground. These mounds will have loosely plugged entrances that blend in with the remainder of the mound.
Mole activity in well-manicured lawns leaves behind uprooted plants, dead grass, and unsightly mounds of dirt along with upraised tunnels in the ground. This activity can range from a single mound with a short tunneling system to dozens of mounds and hundreds of feet of tunneling in a single lawn. Outside of lawns, moles can create the same tunneling and mounds in pasture fields, causing potential damage to livestock.
Four Seasons has been providing successful mole control in lawns and turf for decades. Our full-proof technique utilizes their natural instincts to forage on grubs and worms beneath the ground’s surface, eating up to 100% of their body weight each day. By targeting moles with a poisoned food source that mimics their natural food source, we are able to prey upon the fact that they consume such a high volume of food and therefore guarantee that they will consume our baiting applications. This means our treatment is always successful and Somerset KY residents and landowners always win with Four Seasons on their side!
Mole runs can cause significant damage to lawns, turf, and fields.
This can cause potential dangers to livestock in fields.
Mole mounds can range from one or two in a small area to dozens,
causing tremendous damage to lawns.
Moles can be active year round, even in the snow.
(mole mound in snow)
Mole runs can uproot plants, flowers, grass, destroy landscaping and more.
Moles enter and exit their mounds and lightly plug the hole on top afterward.
Voles In Your Somerset KY Lawn
Although voles damage grass, trees, bulbs, and plant roots, moles often take the blame. Moles may uproot some plants but they are insectivores, not rodents. It is the vole that can make its way into abandoned mole tunnels and feed on the roots of plants. These pesky, semifossorial rodents live much of their lives underground in complex tunnel systems as a colony.
Voles average in size from 4 – 9 inches long including their tail. In the wild, they are expected to live between only 3 and 6 months. They can be easily identified by their gray or brown fur, stout body, short legs and tail, tiny fur-covered ears, and blunt nose. 23 species of voles are present in the United States and 4 of those exist in Kentucky. Voles have been found in colonies with as many as 2000 members, though typically the numbers are much smaller.
It’s important to keep an eye out for voles, as their presence may not be obvious until they have caused significant damage. Look for 1-2 inch wide surface runways of trampled grass in irregular paths, along with 1.5 inch diameter holes in line with the runways as signs of vole activity in a lawn. Additionally, keep an eye out for irregular or slow fruit production in trees, yellow and wilted plants, and completely consumed and missing bulbs. On the bottoms of trees and plants, gnaw marks about 1/16 of an inch deep, 1/8 inch wide and 3/8 inch long are indicators of the presence of vole activity.
Vole runs in fields can kill grass and create tripping hazards for livestock potentially costing thousands of dollars in damages.
Vole runs in lawns can be mistaken for mole runs. Vole runs will be depressed into the ground and only about 1.5 inches wide.
Vole exit holes can be found around buildings and in lawns.
Voles can cause significant damage to grass and crop fields, potentially ruining entire crops.
Ants
Several species of ants can damage lawns and turfs. Field ants, Argentine ants, Fire ants, Allegheny mound ants, and more. These ants damage lawns by building mounds of dirt above the surface of the ground. This damages the root system of grasses, inhibits growth, and causes bald or brown spots on the surface. Left untreated, the damage can result in completely ruined lawns.
Four Seasons offers control of any ant species found in your Somerset KY lawn. It’s crucial to understand that DIY treatments can end in complete failure as well as causing the infestation to spread. Several ant species will split their colony (called budding) when they are treated with insecticides, especially if treatment is not properly performed or the incorrect methods or products are used. For optimal control give us a call.
Large ant mounds can reach sizes of 30 inches in diameter and more than 18 inches tall.
Although flat ant mounds may not reach great heights, the can be spread over several feet of ground, killing the surrounding grass.
Small ant mounds can sometimes be found in large numbers close together and therefore can cause significant lawn damage.
Grubs
Both the Japanese beetle and the June bug lay eggs in lawns and turf. Several animals and birds consider grubs a very tasty treat. Possums, skunks, raccoons, several bird species, and other animals could quickly tear through your Somerset KY lawn when grubs are detected beneath the surface. This can leave behind unsightly bird droppings, ticks and other parasites, and brown patches of dirt where the grass has been removed by their digging.
If this isn’t enough, grubs feed from the roots of your lawn causing grass to wilt, turn brown, and create a patchy, unsightly lawn. If left alone year after year, grubs can take a beautiful lawn and turn it into a nightmare. However, spotting grub damage can be easy if you know what to look for. Look for brown, dry patches of grass that can be lifted up like carpet. That’s where your grubs are, and where the roots of your grass were.
Although Grubs may invade your lawn, Four Seasons can thwart the attack. We want you to enjoy your outdoor space as much as we want you to enjoy your indoor space. That’s why we have developed our lawn treatments years ago and still use them today. Our team has years of experience controlling lawn pests and can help take your lawn back from unwanted pests and put the control back in your hands!
Grubs live just below the ground’s surface making them an easy target for hungry animals.
Skunks and other animals damage lawns by digging for grubs.
Grubs make a good meal for several animals including moles.
Grubs feed from grass roots causing wilting and brown patches.
What Can You Do To Prevent Lawn Damage?
There are a variety of over-the-counter treatments available for moles, voles, grubs, ants, and more. Homeowners often report little success with these products and often it results in more damage until a professional is hired. However, there are steps that you can take to help reduce potential infestations and damage:
- Keep lawns mowed and trimmed to below 4 inches tall.
- Remove leaves, debris, grass clippings, limbs, fruits, and nuts from lawns
- Regular fertilizer and lime treatments keep lawns healthy and may reduce the possibility of pests
- Do not overwater your lawn. Grubs love moisture.
- Keep trash and trash bins out of the lawn. Ants love garbage.
- Regular lawn pest treatments help reduce potential damages
If you experience pests in your lawn, Four Seasons Pest Solutions is here to help. Our highly skilled technicians can eliminate your pest problems and help take back your lawn from damaging pests. Give us a call and find out why everyone says that it’s good to have Four Seasons on your side!
